Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with December 26.

Events

1898 – Henri Becquerel presented a note by Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Pierre Curie, and Gustave Bémont to l’Académie des Sciences. They reported strong evidence for a new, intensely radioactive substance in pitchblende and proposed the name radium. Fittingly, the becquerel (Bq) would later become the SI unit of radioactivity.

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Births

1848 – William Ewart (1848-1929), English physician; described Ewart sign (1896), Ewart sign II (1896) and Ewart’s twelve signs of pericardial effusio

1886 – Sir Thomas Lewis (1881-1945), Welsh cardiologist; described the Lewis lead (S5-lead) (1913), and Lewis Triple Response (1927)

1904 – Sylvester McGinn (1904-1984), American cardiologist; described the McGinn-White pattern (1935) – S_I Q_III T_III  pattern on ECG representing right heart strain in an acute pulmonary embolism

1917 – Robert Douglas Sweet (1917-2001), English Dermatologist; described Sweet syndrome (acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis) (1964)

1920 – Ralph Weir Grover (1920-2008), American Dermatologist; described Grover disease (1970)

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Deaths

1976 – Jens Einar Meulengracht (1887–1976), Danish physician; provided early description of Gilbert syndrome (1900), Meulengracht ikterus index (1919), Meulengracht diet (1934), and Holst-Meulengracht disease (1945)

2004 – James Francis “Frank” Pantridge (1916-2004), Northern Irish cardiologist and widely regarded as the father of emergency medicine. Devised the Pantridge defibrillator (1965) and the Pantridge Plan (1966)

2007 – Ingrid Gamstorp (1924-2007), Swedish paediatric neurologist; described Gamstorp disease (1956) [hyperkalemic familial periodic paralysis], and Gamstorp-Wohlfart Syndrome (1959)

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Further reading

• Sur une nouvelle substance fortement radio-active, contenue dans la pechblende. Note de M. P. Curie, de Mme P, Curie et de M. G. Bémont, présentée par M. Becquerel. Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des sciences, 1898 (26 December); 127: 1215–1217